Centralia township was first settled at Walnut Hill in the southeast part of
the township by Joseph Hensley, probably as early as 1816 or 1817. He planted an
orchard on what was later known as the Captain Creed place. This was the first
orchard in the county and was set out about 1817. Captain Hensley was fairly
well educated and a stump speaker of considerable force, and often addressed the
settlers in behalf of his party. He was a Whig in politics and a zealous
partisan. In 1818 he built a horse mill to supply the settlement about the hill,
which by this time had several families, among whom were the Vermillion,
McKenney, Jennings, Ricker, Taylor and Huff families. The first land entered in
the township was the west half of the southeast quarter of section 28, since
owned by the Copple family. Vermillion was a ranger in 1812 and later moved to a
farm just out of Salem, and is the same known as Black Bear Vermillion. He was
foreman of the first Grand Jury of Marion county. He moved to Missouri later,
where he died. The second land entered was the west half of the northeast
quarter of section 34. This entry was made by Daniel McKinney and was dated
February 21, 1820. He had made some improvements as a squatter, but having sold
to Charles Jennings in January, entered the land to make the title good. Israel
Jennings entered the west half of the northeast quarter of section 34 as the
third entry. It must not be thought that these three farms were all that were
being improved in this part of the county, but many settlers picked out forty or
eighty acres and began improvements, intending to enter the land as soon as
possible thereafter, and these claims were rarely disputed or jumped by others
(It was not considered healthy). Israel Jennings was from Kentucky and lived to
a good old age. He was twice married and raised a large family. He served one
term in the Legislature. He was a man of vigorous intellect, shrewd judgment and
sterling honesty. At his death he owned over a thousand acres of land, leaving a
goodly heritage to his children, both of material things and of the better
things of character. His son Charles entered eighty acres in section 27 August
24, 1821. He had bought the McKinney place in 1820, where he took his bride when
he married, and where he continued to live until his death. Rufus Ricker entered
eighty acres in 1821, but in 1823 he moved to Salem, where, with Mark Tully, he
bought out James Roberts, and they carried out the contract between the
Commissioners to select a place for a permanent county seat by deeding to the
county thirty acres of land in section 11, township 2, range 2. William Taylor
came to the Hill settlement. He was a tough customer in a fight, but not
disposed to be quarrelsome with his neighbors. Mr. Taylor entered eighty acres
in section 30 in 1823 and had improved or settled on the west half of the
southwest quarter of section 29. One Daniel White, of Clinton county, jumped the
claim of Taylor by entering the eighty upon which Taylor had built a cabin and
fenced a small tract. This eighty was a very desirable piece of land and Taylor
was not disposed to give it up. White knew nothing of Taylor's reputation, but
was soon to learn from the man himself, for Taylor went to see White, and his
ferocious aspect, with face scarred by many battles, one ear gone, and a double
row of teeth, which he could champ like an enraged swine, soon convinced White
that Taylor was entitled to the land, especially as Taylor told him he would
have the land or eat White, blood raw. White and Taylor went before a Justice of
the Peace and White made over the land to Taylor, who paid the entry fees.
Samuel Gaston, in 1818, settled at the Hill, but was just over the line in
Jefferson county, but afterward the family became active citizens of Marion.
Samuel Shook, a Baptist minister, and probably the first preacher to settle in
the county, settled here in 1820. In 1823 he entered eighty acres of land in
section 23, which is still in the family.
Thomas Kell came from South
Carolina and settled at the Hill, but just south of the county line. Here he
opened a small store, but afterward was as much interested in Marion as in
Jefferson county. The first school-house was built in 1821. It was made of logs
and stood east of the Jennings place on the edge of the prairie. This
schoolhouse had a dirt floor for several years. William Carrigan was the first
teacher and he began teaching before the house was chinked and daubed. Bird M.
Simpson taught the second term and John S. Davis the third. This school-house
was also used as a meeting house and ministers of the Baptist faith frequently
preached to the people there. In those days the settlers would go many miles to
"meeting," and whenever a preacher "norated around" that there would be
preaching, he was sure of an attentive and large audience. Absalom Frazier came
in 1839 and entered land and contracted to have a carding mill built in section
17, but nothing was done until the next year, when his son, Simpson Frazier,
came from Indiana, when the mill was built. The machinery was shipped to
Shawneetown by river from Indiana and thence hauled by oxen to the mill site.
The mill when set up was operated by oxen or horses and was operated until about
1855, when it fell into disuse. It will be observed that the settlement of
Centralia township was confined to the southeast portion, nor did other parts of
the township receive much attention from the settlers until the Illinois Central
Railroad was projected, when the eyes of the immigrants were turned to that part
of the county through which it was to pass, and many settlers took up land along
the proposed line, and Central City, in the northwest part of the township, was
started, and but for the lack of foresight of the holders of the land at Central
City, there would be today no Centralia. Central City is near Crooked creek, and
at that time was selected by the railroad engineers as a division end, but the
land owners refused to grant such concessions as the railroad demanded, and as
the officials said asked exorbitant prices for land, thinking the road must
build shops, etc., near water. It will be remembered that the act of Congress
gave each alternate section of land for some distance on both sides of the road
to the company as a bonus, so when they could not get land on which to build on
such terms as they thought right, they went one mile farther south and laid out
the city of Centralia on their own section and pumped water to their shops from
Crooked creek. From the earliest settlement of Illinois by the Americans after
Clark's conquest there had been a class of very undesirable citizens hovering on
the borders near Vincennes, Shawneetown and also at Cave-in Rock, on the Ohio,
and a regular channel by which these cutthroats and robbers conducted their
nefarious barter was kept open, with stations along the way, so that property
stolen in the eastern settlements was sold in the west, and that stolen in
Randolph and St. Clair counties was sold in the east at Vincennes or
Shawneetown. In 1816 an attempt to make a station for these thieves at Walnut
Hill was made and several families of these undesirable people settled or rather
squatted near Walnut Hill, but their neighbors soon suspected that something was
wrong, as counterfeit money was put in circulation and many mysterious strangers
were seen to visit them. Word was conveyed to the Rangers of St. Clair county,
who in 1819, under Captains Thomas and Bankson, marched secretly to the home of
John Carrigan, who lived in Clinton county near Carlyle. As the men from St.
Clair county did not know the way across the country to Walnut Hill and as the
expedition was secret, they must have a guide, and a young son of Carrigan's was
appointed to conduct them to the home of Israel Jennings, which he accomplished
without any one seeing them. It was early in the night when they arrived at the
Jennings homestead and young Carrigan was dismissed, and he rode home through
the wilderness in the night. A lad of about twelve, alone in the darkness,
bravely facing a ride of thirty miles through a trackless wilderness filled with
wild beasts and at any moment in danger of meeting lawless men, who, if they
knew his mission, would not hesitate to murder him, but of such mettle were the
pioneers of our county made. Young Carrigan, with his father, soon became
citizens of Carrigan township in this county. The rangers, after reaching the
home of Jennings, divided into three parties of fifteen men each, and quietly
surrounded the cabins of the outlaws and captured them without resistance, as
the outlaws perceived resistance would be useless. The captured cutthroats were
known as the Goings gang, and consisted of William, John and Pleasant Goings,
Theophilus W. Harring, Tarleton Kane and John Bimberry and others who were not
at home, but presumably out on an expedition and not caught. The above named,
however, were told that they must leave the country within a given number of
days, under penalty of death, and to impress upon their minds that the edict
must be obeyed they were all lashed to saplings and given an unmerciful
whipping. By the appointed time all had departed and none ever returned. This
procedure may seem to us of the present day extremely harsh, and when we reflect
that the law was solely in the hands of the rangers in such remote places, and
that they were organized by authority for the protection of the frontier, where
the law could not reach the offenders, and above all that it was effective, we
must, however, reluctantly give our approval.
THE CITY OF CENTRALIA.
The following sketch is furnished the editor by ex-Mayor S. A. Frazier, to
whom we hereby acknowledge our indebtedness.
The county of Marion was
formed and its boundaries defined by an act of the Legislature of the state of
Illinois, which became a law on the 24th of January, 1823. Centralia is situated
near the southwest corner of the county, near the center of Seven Mile Prairie.
Central City, older by about two years than Centralia, is located at the point
where the Illinois Central Railroad enters Seven Mile Prairie from the north,
about one mile distant from the northern limits of the corporation. In the year
1850 the inhabitants of Seven Mile Prairie could have been counted on one's
fingers. They were located, with the exception of a half-dozen families, at the
edge of the wooded land which surrounded the prairie, and all lived, excepting
perhaps an equal number of families, in one-story log houses. There is not, so
far as the writer knows, a house now standing in Seven Mile Prairie which is a
fair sample of the average residence of the time alluded to. The house was one
story in height, the open space between the logs being chinked with small blocks
of wood and daubed or plastered with clay. The chimney was on the outside at the
end of the building and was composed of a framework of logs and sticks, lined in
the lower portion with clay and stones and in the upper portion with clay alone.
The roof and often the doors were made of clapboards riven from the trees of the
forest. The floor was often made of puncheons split from logs and hewed on one
side. It need not be stated that this kind of flooring was never tongued and
grooved, and the floor was never air-tight, except when the floor was laid on
the ground. Usually these houses contained but one room, in which the family
performed all the various offices of indoor life. Here they dressed, talked over
the family and neighborhood affairs, received company, courted and were given in
marriage and married. Here also the women attended to those never neglected
duties of the time, knitting, spinning and weaving, duties which have since
almost lost their places among the household arts. The question occurs: Were
these people happy amid such rude surroundings and with such privations of the
conveniences of life? We may truly answer, yes. So emphatically true is it that
life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions. Ask those who lived
at that time and they will tell you they were happy in those days, and will
probably add that the good old times were better than the present strenuous
period. Their happiness we may not gainsay, but as to those times being better
than this present time, that does not follow. This is another question and one
open to very serious question.
In 1851 the Illinois Central Railroad was
surveyed and located, and Seven Mile Prairie, in which they had been no marked
improvement, began to exhibit more animation. Unknown faces were less rare than
formerly and citizens showed more anxiety to increase their landed possessions.
In 1852 the work of grading was begun and many foreigners appeared upon the
scene, some of whom remained in the country and were valuable additions to its
population. The change wrought in the appearance of the county and the habits
and pursuits of the people was wonderful. Where before there had been a sort of
Rip Van Winkle sleep, all was life, industry and activity. New industries became
available and old ones were stimulated by better prices and a home market. The
people began to put the good old times behind them. Central City supplemented
Walnut Hill as a commercial metropolis of the region. That part of the city of
Centralia known as Jones, Eheninger, McClelland and Spear's addition was laid
out in the summer of 1853. In the autumn of the same year A. P. Crosby's
addition was laid out. In 1853 Centralia proper was laid out by the Illinois
Central Railroad Company, and some lots were sold, but no deeds were executed
until after the passage of the law of January 14, 1855, authorizing the railroad
company to lay out towns and sell town lots.
The first house built in
Centralia was the one-story frame house fronting north on the west side of the
last railroad crossing but one in South Centralia, in the east end of which
McCord & Davenport sold merchandise; the west end of the same building was used
for a residence; the next building erected in our city was a one-story frame
about ten by twelve feet in extent across the street north from McCord &
Davenport's, in which Thomas Douglas, afterward of Sandoval, sold dried herring
and liquid refreshments. The first house built in Centralia still stands, but
the second and third, which were immediately across the railroad, east from it,
being the one-story part of the Hoskins property, built by Joseph Hensley, have
long since vanished.
The Illinois Central Railroad Company commenced the
erection of their roundhouse, shops and hotel in November, 1853. It was the
desire of the railroad company originally to erect their buildings at Central
City, and with that object in view negotiations were entered into with O'Melveny
and Gall, the then proprietors of the land, but failing to agree upon the price
to be paid for land on which to erect buildings and sidetracks, the present site
was fixed upon. The work of erecting the buildings once commenced was pushed
with vigor until they were fully completed. The first house built in the city of
Centralia as laid out by the Illinois Central Railroad Company, was the
two-story frame building still standing at the southeast corner of Walnut and
First streets. The next house built was a barn, which stood on the present site
of the Market Block, on Chestnut street. The roof was better adapted to secure
perfect ventilation than immunity from moisture, and in consequence the boarders
slept on rainy nights with umbrellas stretched over their heads. The first store
in Centralia was that of McCord & Davenport, the second that of A. P. Crosby,
both located in South Centralia. The next store was that of J. M. O'Melveny,
which stood east of the present site of the Centralia House, but the building
was moved by the Illinois Central Railroad Company without any interruption to
the business of the occupant to the present site of Saddler's Block. The next
store opened was that of Kohl & Warner. In November, 1854, the first regular
train over the Illinois Central Railroad passed through Centralia. The first
school-house erected in Centralia is a two-story frame building that originally
stood near the southern limit of Jones, Ehminger, McClelland & Spear's addition
on the east side of the railroad. It was afterward removed to the present site
of the Welcome Hall in the south part of the city. It was again removed, this
time across the street immediately east, where it now stands, transformed into a
residence. The upper story was originally designed for an Odd Fellows' Hall, but
for some reason was never used by that order. The first school-house erected in
Centralia proper was a small frame building, which stood on the ground where now
stands the one-story building occupied by the Star Laundry. The school-houses,
still in use, known as the East Side and West Side, school-houses, were built in
1861. The brick school-house in South Centralia, being the same now known as
Welcome Hall, was built in 1862. The first house of worship erected in our city
was the Methodist Episcopal church built in Crosby's addition in 1854. It stood
on the southwest corner of the block on which the brick now stands and fronted
to the south; its first pastor was R. H. Manier, who was also the first resident
minister who ever preached in Centralia. He came here in 1855. The house was
afterward removed to the northeast corner of Poplar and Fifth streets. In 1864
and 1865 the society erected a brick building at the southeast corner of
Broadway and Elm streets. In 1856 the Christian church erected a house of
worship, which was afterward burned down, on the ground occupied by the present
Christian church. The present building was erected in 1872. In 1856 the first
Presbyterian church was erected.
The next church built was the Roman
Catholic church, in 1858. The building was afterward increased in size. The
United Presbyterian church was built in 1862, the building being sold afterward
to the Episcopalians. The First Baptist church was erected in 1864, the German
Evangelical church in 1865, the Second Baptist church (colored) was built in
1871 and the Second Methodist Episcopal church (colored) in
1873.
The first physicians to take up their residence in our city were G. W. Hotchkiss
and C. W. Dunning, who opened an office here in the spring of 1854. Next came J.
M. Gaskill and J. L. Hallam, who opened an office in South Centralia in July,
1854.
Our first lawyer was W. W. O'Melveny, who came here in 1854. The
next was W. Stoker, who came in June following. H. K. S. O'Melveny opened an
office in Central City in 1853. N. R. Stickney was the first Justice of the
Peace. He was elected in 1855 and assumed the duties of the office the following
December. The city was incorporated under a special act of the Legislature,
which was passed February 22, 1859. The formal incorporation was March 1, 1859.
The charter was amended in February, 1861, and further amended February 16,
1865. The first officers of the city were: Mayor, Mathew C. Kell. Aldermen:
First Ward, J. J. Dimick and J. G. Cormick; Second Ward, Samuel Storer and D. H.
McCord; Third Ward, James Cunningham and G. V. Johnson; City Marshal, A. H.
Seley; Street Commissioner, E. Probst; City Surveyor, S. Frazier: Treasurer,
James Wilson; Assessor, A. H. Crosby; Police Magistrate, Edwin S. Condit; City
Clerk, Lewis Bunce; Attorney, George C. McKee; Collector, A. H. Seley. All these
officers, with one or two exceptions, have joined the silent majority.
At the Presidential election of 1860 the vote for the Democratic electors was
147 against 197 for the Republican electors. In the Centralia precinct in 1864
the Democrats polled 133 and the Republicans 405 votes; 1868, Democrats 269, and
Republicans 544, and in 1872 Democrat and Liberal vote was 271 and O'Conner and
Republican 453. Until 1856 the polling place was at Walnut Hill.
In the
fall of 1856 D. A. Burton published the first newspaper in Centralia. It was
called the Enterprise, and died after an existence of two months. The next paper
was the Rural Press, edited and published by M. L. McCord. It struggled along
for two years and then suspended. Then H. S. Blanchard tried the newspaper
venture, but without success. J. D. G. Pettijohn started the Egyptian Republic
November 3, 1859. This paper lived until after the strenuous Presidential
campaign of 1860, but went out of existence in 1861. A Mr. Fuller then issued a
few numbers of a paper the name of which is not remembered by any one in
Centralia as far as can be learned. The Commercial, published by E. P. Thorpe,
issued its first number in April, 1867, and survived six months. On May 28,
1868, the first number of the Centralia Sentinel was issued, with E. S. Condit
and J. W. Fletcher as editors, but it is said Mr. Condit's editorial connection
with the paper was only nominal. At the expiration of a year J. W. and F. W.
Fletcher became the editors and publishers. In 1869 J. C. Cooper bought the
interest of J. W. Fletcher and the Sentinel was published by J. C. Cooper and C.
D. Fletcher until 1872, when L. C. Wilcox purchased the interest of J. C.
Cooper. On January 1, 1875, it passed into the hands of J. W. and F. W.
Fletcher, who were succeeded by J. W. Kerr, and he by T. L. Joy. The latter took
charge October 20, 1888. It is now a daily as well as weekly.
The
Centralia Democrat was first published on November 7, 1867, by W. H. Mantz.
Afterward Isaac McClelland became nominally a co-editor and publisher with Mr.
Mantz. In October, 1870, the office was partially destroyed by fire, but the
press soon after came into the possession of S. P. Tufts, by whom it was
repaired, and from the 9th day of February, 1871, the Democrat has been
published by Mr. Tufts and his son, who succeeded as editor his father at the
latter's death some years ago. It is now published both as a daily and weekly.
Centralia was not surpassed in patriotism by any city in the state
during the late war. No less than six companies were organized and sent forward
from our city, besides contributing a great number of recruits to companies
organized at other points. The first company was organized April 19, 1861. It
was Company C of the Eleventh Illinois Infantry, commanded by A. L. Rockwood as
captain. The next was Company C of the Twenty-second Illinois Infantry,
commanded by E. Probst. Other companies were organized and commanded,
respectively, by Captains Noleman, Cormick, Sommerville and Cunningham. During
the war a hospital was maintained by our city for the benefit of sick and
wounded soldiers, and many of our ladies are remembered to this day with
gratitude by our country's brave defenders scattered over the land, for the
kindness with which they were cared for in our city.
No other single
industry up to the present writing surpasses or indeed equals the railroad
interests of our city. Centralia has been from the first a railroad town, being
the headquarters of a division of the Illinois Central Railroad and containing
as it does shops with facilities for carrying on every variety of railroad work,
and the accommodation of hundreds of employes. During the month of May, 1876,
the Illinois Central Railroad Company had two hundred and sixty-two men in its
employe who resided in Centralia, to whom the sum of fifteen thousand seven
hundred and ninety-five dollars was paid in wages for that month. The monthly
payroll is now much larger.
Next in importance is the coal industry of
Centralia. A shaft was sunk at Central City in 1857 to the depth of one hundred
and ninety feet, passing through ten inches of coal at the depth of fifty feet
and another seam of coal twelve inches thick at one hundred and eighty feet. At
one hundred and ninety feet the shaft was discontinued and a boring made one
hundred and eighty feet. to a total depth of three hundred and seventy feet,
without, however, finding other seams of coal. In 1857 and 1858 the Illinois
Central Railway Company sunk an artesian well near the machine shops in
Centralia to the depth of eight hundred and fifty-seven feet for the purpose of
securing a supply of water for their shops. The report of the strata passed
through in boring that well, though subsequent events have shown it to be
unreliable, did much to encourage our citizens to thoroughly test the question
of the existence or non-existence of coal in the vicinity in paying quantities.
In the fall of 1869 some citizens of our city organized a stock company under
the name of the Centralia Coal and Mining Company, for the purpose of testing
and setting at rest once for all, either by failure or success, the coal
question. The first and only board of directors consisted of F. Kohl, R. D.
Noleman, M. C. Kell, E. S. Condit, H. D. Kingsbury, J. L. Hopkins, H. Kurth, C.
D. Hay and J. C. Cooper. A contract was entered into with two of our citizens,
James Wilson and Thomas Warren, to do the boring. They commenced work about the
20th of February, 1870, and continued at intervals until about the 20th of
April, when the work was abandoned at a depth of two hundred and nineteen feet,
having passed through six inches of coal at a depth .of eighty feet. The
Centralia Coal and Mining Company failed to set the coal question at rest.
On the 21st of January, 1873, F. Kohl, Esq., requested the citizens of
Centralia to meet at the City Hall January 25, 1873, to consider the propriety
of organizing a company to establish a nail mill, at which time and place the
meeting was held and the project discussed. The conclusion was arrived at that
the proposed nail mill would be more certainly successful if fuel could be
obtained without the cost of transportation. At a subsequent meeting, held
February 1, 1873, it was decided to organize a company to be incorporated under
the general incorporation laws of the state, to sink a shaft to a depth
sufficient to determine with certainty the question of obtaining a home supply
of coal. The company was styled the Mining and Manufacturing Company of
Centralia, Illinois, and was organized in April, 1873, with a capital stock of
fifteen thousand dollars. The capital stock was twice increased, to the amount
of five thousand dollars each time. The work of sinking the shaft was begun May
14, 1873, and was prosecuted with varying hopes of success. At the commencement
many had strong faith in the substantial correctness of the report of the
Illinois Central Railroad Company's boring, but as our hopes based upon it were
one by one dissipated, Prof. Engleman, of the Illinois Geological Survey, was
appealed to for encouragement by the leaders of the enterprise and did much by
his letters and, as the events proved, by his accurate knowledge of the geology
of the region, to inspire confidence. Finally, on the 28th of September, 1874,
at the depth of five hundred and sixty-four feet, a vein of coal was reached,
which proved to be seven feet in thickness and of excellent quality. At about 12
o'clock noon on the 29th the cannon announced the good news to our citizens;
their pluck and energy had been fitly rewarded. Many of them met, as if by
common consent, at the City Hall, where the enterprise had been organized, and
made arrangements for a grand celebration of the event on Saturday. November 7,
1874. On the day appointed our citizens and many of the citizens of neighboring
towns as well as of the surrounding country, turned out, and a grand gala day
was had. Our business interests and mechanical arts were all represented in the
procession which that day paraded through our city. Our coal mine has since
became and will ever remain one of the institutions of our city. In her coal
interests Centralia has a permanent industry.
Among the other
institutions of our city it is proper to mention the First National Bank,
organized in 1865, one of the soundest banking institutions in the state; the
gas works, erected in 1868, and the Union Fair, organized in 1869. There are
also many carefully conducted industries in our city, which in time will develop
into enterprises of greater magnitude and will prove to be productive industries
in our city. Centralia now has a state bank, also both banks are on a solid
basis and do a large, though safe and conservative, business.
For
several years the Illinois Central Railroad was the only railroad connecting
Centralia with the outside world, but about twenty-five years ago a new impetus
was given the little city by the building of the Jacksonville road, and about
the same time also the Southern, the first extending southeast and northwest,
the latter more nearly east and west, yet tending to the north. The first
extended from Jacksonville to Centralia and then southeast, the latter from St.
Louis, Missouri, to Evansville, Indiana. The Jacksonville is now a part of the
Burlington system, which absorbed the Jacksonville and extended it south from
Centralia, tapping the rich coal deposits of Franklin, Williamson and other
counties. These roads do a large business and add much to the material
prosperity of Centralia. A fair estimate would place one-fourth of our
population directly dependent upon the various railroads. Shortly after the
building of the Southern the Centralia & Chester Railroad was built. Its
northeast terminal was Centralia for a number of years, but was subsequently
extended to Salem, which is now the northern terminal of the once Centralia &
Chester, but now Illinois Southern Railroad. The coal mining industry now
occupies the industry of many hundreds of men and furnishes thousands of tons of
coal per day, the output of three extensive mines. The boring for oil on the
Bundy farm has developed a water supply of hitherto unsuspected source, but as
to whether it can be of any practical benefit to the city or not it is too early
to predict. Centralia has a factory for the manufacture of envelopes, with an
output of millions of envelopes of every variety. A township high school
building of great architectural beauty stands at the east side of town. A
Carnegie Library graces the public square, and many other evidences of a rapidly
growing city may be found. At the close of the year 1908 the number of
inhabitants is about twelve thousand five hundred and is rapidly increasing.
Extracted 27 Mar 2020 by Norma Hass from 1909 Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois, pages 188-198.